According to the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, José Cesário, the entry of immigrants from the CPLP into Portugal will be "more demanding".

In the visa for job search, "the person will have to prove that they have the conditions to survive in Portugal while looking for work", he said.

Following the changes to the Foreigners Law, which came into force on October 30, 2022, citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) were granted simplified visas, being exempted from "proof of means of subsistence".

In this case, they would have to present a term of responsibility from a Portuguese or foreign resident in Portugal who guarantees their subsistence and accommodation.

This proof will be necessary again, with the Government having already given guidance in this regard.

"What we want is for people who come to Portugal to come with full protection of their rights, but without running into situations of real marginality, poverty, isolation, which is not good for them and is not good for the country", added the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities.

And he reinforced: "Portugal, if it needs labor, all well and good, it resorts to foreign labor, but it has to guarantee the rights of the people who come; but it also does not have the doors wide open for anyone to come, who then ends up there at the mercy of fate, often without being able to guarantee their subsistence".

José Cesário believes that "these changes could result in a regulation of this sector and, above all, greater protection of citizens' rights and also greater protection of the country's rights".

On the other hand, CPLP visas will no longer overlap all others.

"When the CPLP visa emerged, it overlapped all the others. Now, we are implementing a change, a change, which is that the person can choose whether they want a CPLP visa or another type of visa", he explained.

For José Cesário, "the fact that [a citizen] comes from a CPLP country will not have to force a citizen to always have a CPLP visa".

And he added that there are many people who feel penalized and do not want the CPLP visa, but rather "a different visa, which allows them a normal residence permit, which in turn allows them to circulate in the European Union, in the Schengen area, and that was not the case".

The fact that CPLP Residence Permit holders cannot circulate in the European Union is an "absolutely recurring complaint" from these immigrants.

"I have been sensitive to it for a long time and this is a change to be pursued immediately", he said, indicating that he has already signed the decree that will allow this change.

The CPLP includes Portugal, Cape Verde, Brazil, Timor-Leste, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique.

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